A Journey From the East
by SpartAl412
Summary: After a successful voyage to the eastern nation of Cathay, the merchant ship "Haendryk's Bounty" sets sail back to Marienburg. Upon the high seas where great dangers are plenty, it seems that the greatest hope for the survival of its crew lies in the hands of a Cathayan traveler who seeks passage to the west, to the Old World.


Author's Note: A fair bit, but not all of this story is based on the unofficial Cathay Army Book by Mathias Eliasson

* * *

Otto Sturm watched as the Cathayan city faded in the distance from behind the ship. He was clad in his old dented steel breastplate which was starting to get a bit of rust on it, on his back he carried a shield with a sword tied to his left hip. The former state swordsman of Altdorf and now mercenary employed upon the Marienburg merchant ship of "Haendryk's Bounty", watched in wonder as they entered what the other sailors called The Far Sea. Several months earlier, a penniless and down on his luck Otto had heard about a wealthy merchant by the name of Josef Fritz who was hiring professional mercenaries and former State Troops to guard the ship on an expedition to the East.

It was a good idea at the time to take the job. Otto had gotten into a spot of trouble after borrowing money from a loan shark with a small army of thugs who would have left Otto a paraplegic cripple had he stayed. Hopefully he could pay the loan shark back when he returned, or he supposed he could try his luck in Tilea where mercenaries were a pfennig a dozen. So far, Otto's opinion was that he did not regret this job; indeed he was glad for taking it.

For the first time in his life, he had seen the foreign nation of Bretonnia and the city of L'anguille, he had seen the golden towers of Copher in Araby. They had passed by a mighty patrol of dwarf iron ships which belched smoke from its chimneys and it bristled with many guns. The dwarfs had paid little heed to the men as they went about their business. How the Mountainfolk managed to build ships which did not need sails to move or be clad in so much armor and not sink was beyond Otto.

They had seen the elegant ships of the High Elves and passed by the glittering towers of the Fortress of Dawn, Tor Elasor and The Gates of Calith which filled the Reikland mercenary with awe to the fey folk. Aside from their ships he had even seen the swift flying chariots of the high elves which were being pulled by large birds. Of course it had not all been peace and sunshine though.

There were times they had to brave storms and fight back against the open assaults of pirates from Sartosa, corsairs from Lashiek, marauders from Norsca and once he had seen in the distance one of the elf ships in battle against another ship which seemed to be of a dark and cruel design. Fortunately, it seemed that Manaan had shown them great favor in this journey and the "Haendryk's Bounty" had only sustained minor damages in short skirmishes which had also give the mercenary his first experiences in operating a Great Cannon.

It seemed that Herr Fritz had really gone to no expense in making sure his ship may have as well also be a floating fortress. No doubt that with all the crates of exotic goods they received from Cathay would be more than enough to pay for the expenses as well as Otto's own fee.

As the city further faded from sight, Otto guessed that he should go help with something aboard the ship. Sure he may have seen some pretty amazing things, and he didn't have to look over his shoulder for anyone trying to shank him, but between those times were the countless days of crushing boredom as they saw nothing but water and sky. As he let go of the rails on the back of the ship, he noticed the passenger they had picked up of whom was quietly looking out to the fading city.

Before they had departed the city, name which Otto couldn't quite get right, the merchant had brought aboard a Cathayan woman he told them was a paying passenger, much to the dismay of the crew who claimed that having a woman aboard was bad luck. The Cathayan wore dark blue silken garments embroidered in with golden birds, each of the wide sleeves of her robes had a pair of long blue strips of cloth with Cathayan letters embroidered into it. Curiously, upon the woman's back was a golden staff with a round ring-like head and several crystal rings of different shades of blue which reflected the light of the sun. Was she some sort of priest of their pagan gods he thought?

The Cathayan in question seemed rather short, but then again Otto noticed that almost every Cathayan seemed shorter than him and his shipmates so he supposed the woman was average in height by their standards. Her skin had an orange tinge to it with glossy black hair tied into a bun and long strands of hair cascading from the sides. He had to admit the woman was rather attractive in an exotic sort of way.

The Cathayan silently watched as the ship sailed further on. He wanted to try his luck but was doubtful the woman could even speak in Reikspiel. Well it's not like he was that desperate anyway. With a shrug he went off and decided to make himself useful.

* * *

Xingjuan watched in silence as her homeland of Cathay faded from sight. The sun rose high in the calm blue sky as a gentle wind steadily pushed the sail of the foreign ship, a good omen she believed. The Wu Jen smiled and thought of that which awaited her in the west. In the nights before she had left her homeland, she had meditated and scryed through the use of her Chi-Sight as she studied a strange foreign Tome from the Far West which was written in an elegant script which seemed to dance and shift at the corner of her eyes.

How she had come in possession of the Tome was through a wandering merchant from Ind who claimed to be selling foreign, mystical charms. At first she had thought the man to be a cheap peddler of trinkets who preyed upon the superstitions of the peasant folk. She was surprised though when she saw that many of his wares were indeed magical in nature, with only a small portion (of which he was selling rather cheaply) having no power at all. She asked the merchant where he had acquired it to which the man had responded that he purchased it in Araby. The true origins though were from a far away land which floated upon the sea itself where ancient kings lived to see the passing of nations.

The Tome which depicted a crescent, moon-like sigil had at first made her think it truly was of Arabyan origin. She had heard how in the desert realm of the West, near the cursed Land of the Dead, there were a series of islands which were home to many magicians. Near the isles in the mainland was supposed to be the home of powerful sorcerer king whose wisdom and knowledge of the arcane was unrivaled amongst the race of man.

She had purchased the Tome for no small fee; it was fortuitous that she had recently been in the employment of Lord Shen the Lion. A large warlord and a masterful wielder of the _Zhanmadao_ sword, he had been personally charged by the Celestial Emperor himself to help guard the western borders of Cathay from the Ogres, Hobgoblins and Hung. Xingjuan had proven herself most useful to the warlord's army by using her magic to obliterate many ogre barbarians, she had even matched her own skill in magic with one of their brutish sorcerers whose power stemmed from what they consumed.

Lord Shen had been so impressed that he had offered Xingjuan a permanent position in his army, she of course settled for a temporary position until a more powerful and more skilled Wu Jen had taken her place. When she had left, the warlord had gifted her with a large fortune in coin for her services to the Celestial Empire as well as a promise to make sure her name would be known to other generals and leaders of the Celestial Host in the event that she would seek further employment.

After studying the Tome though, she felt that perhaps her assumptions of its Arabyan origins were wrong as her mortal eyes saw a most unusual script which was even more elegant than the ones used by the men of the dessert lands. The vision from her Chi-Sight showed her two great places in the west. The first was a realm ruled by a barbarian king; in his hands he held a golden hammer which radiated with ancient power, one which rivaled the power of even the Celestial Emperor himself. It was difficult for her to grasp that such a power existed in the world, the idea that the Immortal Ruler of Heaven and Earth's power could be rivaled by one of the white skinned barbarians, and yet there it was with undeniable proof that great power lay in the West.

In the realm of the Hammer King, she saw a place where the wizards of that land gathered and refined their study in magic. It intrigued her that in the land of the west, there existed a formal institution for the training and study of magic. Curiously, she saw the Chi of this far away land separate into eight forms, two of which were unknown to her. In Cathay the Wu Jen practiced the one of the Nine Folded Virtues of Fire, Water, Earth, Metal Wood, Yin, Yang, Spirit and Heaven. Xingjuan herself was a follower of the Virtue of Water which required its follower in times of peace to be graceful and pure like the calm river. In times of war though, the followers of the Virtue of Water must be cold and uncaring like the blizzard or sudden and destructive like the flood.

After her vision of the Hammer King's realm, her scrying then brought her to an island further west which radiated with a great swirl of magic. She saw a great Phoenix proudly soar across the island which she realized had from high above resembled the great balance of Yin and Yang. Upon the isle were tall and noble creatures which resembled men, the Phoenix Princes she realized from the stories she had heard of the West. Within the realm of the Phoenix Princes she saw a Tower of White Stone, inhabited by several powerful mystics, greatest among them she saw was one Phoenix Prince who seemed frailer compared to the others, yet he radiated such power that it blinded Xingjuan's Chi-Sight.

After recovering from her scrying, she had been deeply intrigued by what magic the lands of the Far West had; it was after that event which made her began thinking about traveling there. It was not as if she had any special duties and contracts which would tie her down, she had always wanted to see what lay beyond Cathay and even past Ind.

The day after she had studied the tome, she had heard about the arrival of the Western merchant ship which had docked in the city she had resided in. Hardly believing her fortune and guessing that perhaps the gods were blessing her journey. The Wu Jen had wasted no time in paying for passage from the foreign merchant who understood a little of her language, it was not hard to convince the merchant after she showed him her coin and pointed to the ship.

After spending many days in preparation for her journey while the merchant ship was docked, she visited many of the temples, tea houses, and many places she felt that she would miss. Now aboard the ship, her mind raced with thoughts of what she might see, perhaps in the west, she would also see the fabled mountain realms of the Stone Emperors, whose skill in steel and mechanical artifice were the stuff of legends in Cathay. She also remembered hearing stories of a nation of eternal cold which was ruled by witches whose power was over Ice and Snow.

As the wind gently blew upon Xingjuan, she could not help but grin as a tinge of excitement coursed through her as this most intriguing adventure began.

* * *

Otto sat down upon a creaky bench as his eyes looked intently at the clay cup ahead of him which was facing down towards the surface of a wooden table in the ship's mess hall, his fingers were crossed and hoped that Ranald would cut him some slack. When Dietrich lifted the cup, Otto loudly swore as the dices were not what he betted upon. It was fortunate for him that they were not betting with money but rather that they were betting with who would be up at the crow's nest tonight.

Lowering his shoulders and sighing in defeat, Otto knew that there was no getting out of this one. Most of the men absolutely hated sentry duty because of the boredom, the cold and the paranoia of what lay out in the dark. The job was also hated because it meant no drinking for the rest of the day and the night, lest the sentry get lashed upon the following day.

Bells rang and the frenzy of activity burst among the men around him. They grabbed the wooden bowls and utensils in front of them and rushed to line up in front of the cook. Otto himself made it to somewhere in the center of the line and he waited his turn, after a minute of waiting, it was finally his turn and his stomach grumbled in anticipation. He walked up to see Old Stahl, a middle-aged short corpulent man with an eye patch over his left eye; he had a messy mop of dark brown greasy hair and sideburn. Some of the other sailors joked that he was an overgrown Halfling or had a bit of Halfling blood in him, not that anyone said it in earshot of him, lest they get a special helping of rat droppings in their food. Of course it was untrue because even Halflings could not cook as bad as Stahl, even if they tried.

'So what's the special for today herr Stahl?' Otto asked as he looked at a cast iron pot of steaming white gruel which if he Otto was sure would be either bland at best or outright disgusting if it were like any of Old Stahl's other recipes.

'A delicious stew of shut up and eat or go hungry is the special for today herr Sturm' said Old Stahl as he ladled a large dollop of the gruel and poured it into Otto's bowl. Bits of it splattered upon Otto's sweat stained tunic and at a closer look he could see it was made from that white grain he had quickly become sick of eating when they were docked at Cathay.

'Your culinary ineptitude does you credit mein herr' Otto said with a slight bit of sarcasm in his thanks.

Old Stahl grunted with an annoyed looked and muttered 'Reiklanders and their fancy words'.

Stepping away from the front of the line and back to the tables, Otto sat down with a group of other mercenaries, former State Troops of the Empire as well. There was Bernhardt, another Altdorf swordsman with a penchant for tall-tales of whom Otto had fought alongside in the past during a campaign against greenskins. Then there was Hans the Handgunner from Stirland who had proven to be a damn good shot with a rifle during one of their skirmishes with the Sartosans. And finally there was his brother Hals the Halberdier, why those two fellows insisted on calling themselves such, Otto did not know, it was probably some sort of inside joke between them.

Otto began eating his bowl of gruel and just as he had expected it was that Cathayan white grain but it was mixed with bits of fish and leeks, it was better than Old Stahl's other dishes, but not by much though. The men ate in silence for there was not really much to talk about for they had exhausted all conversational topics in the months they had spent traveling to Cathay. They did not get to see much of the Cathayan city for armed guards had constantly guarded the ship with one of their officials speaking only to merchant.

What little they did see though had only heightened how strange, alien and exotic Cathay was to the Imperials. Eventually their silence was broken by Bernhardt who said with a leer 'You lads see our newest passenger? Quite the looker on her, eh?'

'Best keep them eyes to yerself' Hans said quietly with a warning 'She all dolled up in fancy robes and got a staff there, why I bet that woman is some kind of witch she is'.

'You think our passenger is a witch?' asked Otto a bit warily, while he himself had fought alongside the wizards of the Colleges of Magic in the past, like all Sigmar-fearing folk he was more than a bit wary of magicians.

'Course she is!' Hals added a bit loudly 'How'd you think the boss let her aboard? No doubt she has bewitched him'.

Otto could think of a lot of others ways any woman could get a man to agree to something, none of which were polite mention in the company of others. Their conversation did not go unheard of and more than a few of the other men around them grumbled and agreed.

'Is bad luck we let a woman on board!' one Marienburg-born sailor said 'but thrice as bad luck as letting a witch aboard!' a chorus of agreements from the other men quickly followed the sailors words.

Otto himself was rather skeptical about the superstition, likely it was one of those silly beliefs which tend to generate from backwards and rural beliefs. Of course he wasn't about to argue the point as well, Sigmar knows how many brawls he has been in after questioning some yokel's beliefs.

'So what are you lads gonna do about it!?' came the loud voice of Captain Ludwig.

All eyes turned to the scar faced Nordlander, who looked at the men as if he were ready to dispense some summary disciplining. The Captain was a large man with the blond hair and blue eyes to suggest he (like many Nordlanders really) was of Norscan descent. If stories Otto heard about the Captain were true, then even he would not want to tangle with a man who supposedly had gone toe to toe with the dreaded Warriors of Chaos and won.

A tense silence passed and the Captain grunted and said contemptuously 'Thought so'. He then walked ahead to Old Stahl who handed the Captain a wooden bowl of gruel, the Captain then went to his own personal table and he set himself down. He looked to the men with a glaring eye and he continued in a low and threatening tone, 'If I catch any of you lads so much as of even thinking to burn our guest without my say so, then I will personally have you gutted like a fish and keel-hauled so that the sharks can chase us around like a carrot on a stick!'

The Captains words silenced the men who went back to their meals. But the damage was done; the men would likely be looking at the Cathayan with suspicion now. Not that it had really bothered Otto for he had participated in a few Witch burnings himself, the problem was that if the Cathayan was a witch, he had no idea how powerful the foreigner could be.

Otto himself had seen how dangerous a wizard could be, the last time he had fought alongside one was this wizard lady in dark purple robes who could easily tear the soul out of a man as easily as if Otto himself had gutted a snotling. But then again there had also been times back in the Imperial Army when his life was saved by a wizard and had met spell casters who seemed a decent enough if eccentric lot.

* * *

Night had now fallen upon the world, with the silver moon of Mannslieb and the stars being the only lights in the sky. Otto shivered in the cold despite having wrapped himself in thick filthy woolen blankets which smelled of old sweat and cheap rum, he would not be surprised if it had lice and he hoped it was not stained with certain other bodily humors which men would often expel during these long, lonely voyages.

Sitting on a stool with a lamp-post behind him, Otto had his sword and shield with him as well as a spyglass. Gods he was both bored and cold from tonight, he began thinking of many random things to pass the time, old stories, jokes, songs and whatever else he could. His eyes grew heavy and he wanted nothing more than to sleep, but with sheer force of will he remained awake.

After more than a few hours on watch, he looked up to see the moon was now at its zenith. Well looks like he still has a lot more hours to go he thought. Standing up and putting his hands on his belt, he dropped his trousers and went to the chamber pot which was placed at the east end of the crow's nest. With a relieved sigh he pissed into the chamber pot while whistling a jaunty sea shanty he had heard from a dwarf before.

When he had finished, he pulled his trousers up and set himself back down on the stool. Looking around again, he saw someone down on the deck of the ship which was lit with lanterns. Using the Spyglass to look down, he saw it was the Cathayan woman; she was still clad in her blue and gold silk robes. The foreign woman emerged from the entrance to the passenger's cabin at the front of the ship, she moved with a slow, graceful stride which seemed otherworldly.

The Cathayan woman then stopped a short distance from the entrance; he saw that she began to slowly wave her arms around in strange patterns before slowly placing her hands together in front of her as if in prayer. He curiously watched the woman as she then began to slowly but silently move about in a strange dance like fashion. Was this some sort of magic at work? Perhaps it was a prayer to the pagan gods of Cathay? He was not sure what it was but he found that he could not take his eyes off of the woman.

A number of the woman's moves looked as if she was attacking something and he guessed that perhaps she was practicing some sort of fighting technique. He had heard stories about how in Cathay, they had turned fighting unarmed into an art style of sorts. The woman's slow and gracious movements were mesmerizing to the Imperial, eventually the woman moved to the west edge of the ship. With fluid movement, she raised her right hand up and to Otto's surprise, a pillar of water emerged from the sea.

Magic! He thought with alarm, he wanted to get down and warn the others but found that he could not take his eyes off of the woman and her sorcerous display. The woman moved her hands about and the pillar of water followed her, eventually she stopped with her hands held out as if in supplication and the water formed into a ball. The Cathayan then began her strange dance again and the ball of water transformed into a tendril of sorts which followed her every movements.

Eventually the water gathered around the woman's right hand and before Otto's very eyes it turned into a long sword-like spike of ice. The woman swiftly grabbed the ice sword and began a new series of movements with it. After perhaps an hour or so of watching, the woman gracefully cast the ice sword off the ship. The sword suddenly shattered and melted as it flew off the rail with each droplet falling back into the ocean. The Cathayan woman then gently placed the palms of her hands together again and she remained silent, she then turned around and quietly went back to her cabin.

Staring down at the deck, Otto could not help but feel a mixture of awe and dread from the clearly sorcerous woman. He had seen the displays of magic from Wizards back in Altdorf, usually it was both flashy and powerful display but never quietly elegant like that. Otto decided that perhaps sentry duty was not so bad after all, he wondered if he should tell the others about it but decided that perhaps he should keep it to himself until he can be sure that Cathayan was up to some mischief.

As the days went on with nothing happening at sea, Otto went about helping with the work of the crew. He spent many mornings fast asleep for he had been volunteering more often to take up sentry duty at night. Just as had happened on the first night, he saw that the Cathayan woman would emerge and perform her strange dances under the moonlight sky. He had asked the other men about the Cathayan, if they noticed anything strange about the woman.

Aside from the vulgar jokes or the common ones relating to how she can even see with such small eyes, there was nothing out of the ordinary. One of the other men aboard, their employer's Valet mentioned how he had been assigned to bring food to the Cathayan. The Valet mentioned how he had seen some strange objects in the Cathayan's cabin, whether it was magical or not he could not say.

More or less, nothing really happened until the fifteenth day of their voyage.

* * *

Xingjuan emerged into the early afternoon sunlight of the open deck; her nostrils were assailed by the smell of the unwashed barbarians aboard the ship as well as the smell of the sea. Blinded for a moment, she stepped forward and sought the merchant who owned this ship. She was curious to know where they were now, while she did have a map of the Middle Empire and the foreign lands which surrounded it, she was no seafaring navigator, for all she knew, hopefully, they would already be past Nippon and traveling off the coast of Kuresh.

She briefly used her Chi-Sight to survey the barbarians around her. She did need to see with her Chi-Sight how many of them either wished her off the ship or were undressing her with their eyes and giving her hungry looks. Ignoring the lusts or hostility of these barbarians, she quickly found the merchant who was at the front of the ship, looking upon the world once more with just her mundane mortal sight; she calmly turned to her left and ascended a nearby flight of stair.

On the upper deck at the front of the ship, she found the merchant named Josef Fritz who was looking out to the sea and holding a glass container filled with a dark reddish liquid. The merchant was accompanied by his servant who held a silver plate with a round bottle upon it, she recognized the servant who was a thin rakish man who had been bringing her food. The servant called to his master who looked to her with a smile, like all the other white skinned barbarians she did not need her Chi-Sight to know what he was now thinking.

'I greeting you honorable lady' the merchant said with a seemingly formal bow as he spoke in a mangled version of her language, it was clear from his tone that he thought he was saying it correctly. 'How I helping you?' he asked. With a bow to the merchant as well, Xingjuan slowly spoke so as to make sure that the merchant hears her every word.

'I would humbly ask to where in the ocean we may be, most august of hosts' she said while trying to be polite as well. A moment of silence passed as the man seemed to study her words; he then talked to his servant in their foreign language, the servant nodded and went for the stairs behind Xingjuan. The merchant gave her a polite smile and raised one hand with the palm facing towards her and his fingers were facing upwards. After waiting for a few minutes the servant returned and spoke to his master. The merchant nodded to his servant, he then looked to Xingjuan and said

'Captain saying passing Nippon still' the merchant said casually. Xingjuan's eyes widened at this, for the waters around Nippon are infested with Wako pirates or patrolled by military ships with Ashigaru or even Samurai who would not take kindly to the Wu Jen's presence. While she was rather expecting for this happen, she had hoped by three days earlier that they were passed Nippon, keeping her composure; she thanked the merchant and swiftly went back towards her quarters. She would need to prepare her spells in the event of any hostile encounters with the Nipponese.

* * *

'What do you think that was about?' Bernhardt asked as he mopped the deck, he was looking at the cabin door from where the Cathayan had re-entered. Otto shrugged and continued to mop as well.

'I bet the pagan witch is up to something' Hans said as he shouldered his rifle and began climbing up to the crow's nest.

Grunting with annoyance, Otto was starting to get sick of "witch this and witch that" from the two Stirlanders. To be honest it was probably the newest topic for them to talk about, still though it was already getting really old. Eventually as Otto finished he wiped the sweat from his brow and he carried his mop towards Old Stahl who warily watched the men who were cleaning with his meaty arms on his hips, beside their cook was a large barrel where all the other mops were stored.

'Hoy! I see something!' shouted Hans from up the crow's nest 'coming in from the east!' Curious to see what it was, Otto went to the east end of the ship, he looked to the sea and soon he spotted four small ships.

'Pirates you think?' asked Hals a bit cautiously as he leaned over the rails.

'Looks a bit small for pirates' Otto said, as the four ships closed in, the Reiklander could soon get a better look at the people aboard. They were human to be sure, tan skinned black-haired men who looked similar to the Cathayans, his nostrils were soon assailed by the smell of fish and it became quite clear what kind of ships these were. Hearing a commotion from behind, Otto looked back to see that the Sea Captain and their employer seemed to be arguing about something. He caught word of a "turn them back" from the Captain but their employer seemed to have none of it.

The Captain sighed in defeat and the merchant beamed and told the men to drop a rope for the fishermen. Soon enough some of the ships converged close enough and a small man wearing a dirty white headband and clad in a dirty dark green garments with his legs exposed and groin covered in a white cloth climbed up to the ship. The man spoke in a language which sounded different from Cathayan, but when it seemed that no one seemed to understand him, the man then began to slowly speak in Cathayan.

Their employer began talking to the man, he then grinned and looked back to the men and said 'Looks like these fellows want to trade'. Soon enough the merchant and the fisherman who boarded their ship seemed to haggle, after a while the fisherman called to his fellows and soon more men began to climb the ropes. The merchant then began ordering two of the sailors and his Valet to accompany him to the cargo area; the other men gave a simple "aye aye" and followed him.

After the merchant left and more of the fishermen boarded, the palms on Otto's hands began to itch. While indeed the fishermen were bringing aboard some fresh looking fish, he noted that many of them seemed to have a sort of rough and hard look to them. While many of the sailors aboard the Haendryk's Bounty were not exactly flowery chaps themselves, he did notice how odd it seemed that these "fishermen" had so many scars.

Eventually there came up one fisherman who wore dark blue garments and clothes which covered his legs, he seemed to stand out from the rest in a way Otto could not describe. He was taller and broader than the other fishermen, he had a thick stubble of a beard and a strange wooden hat which was wide but had a pointed top. Most curiously was that he carried two thin curved black sticks on the left side of his belt, as Otto looked at it, his eyes widened in realization and he thought, Sigmar's beard! Those are swords!

Before Otto could reply, the swordsman's weapons flashed out in the blink of an eye and two of the nearest crewmen fell with their heads parted from their shoulders and blood gushing upwards. Soon several of the fishermen pulled out knives, sickles, and other concealable weapons from under their sleeves or even from inside the fish and they attacked the crew of Haendryk's Bounty.

'To arms!' Boomed the voice of Captain Ludwig as he pulled out his cutlass and pistol. Pointing his pistol at the nearest fisherman, he pulled the trigger and the man's head exploded in a shower of gore. Otto himself quickly pulled out his sword but was forced to jump back as one of their attackers leapt towards him with a spear which was thrust forwards and would have impaled Otto in the groin had he not moved.

Landing on his feet, Otto rushed the man who had attacked him. His opponent swiftly swung his spear to Otto's left and the Reiklander's left foot was hit, next thing he knew he felt a sense of vertigo and he was looking up at the sky before his head painfully struck against the deck and his vision began to blur for a moment.

'_Baka Gaijin_' snorted the man with the spear contemptuously as he quickly retracted his spear and thrust it forwards. Otto quickly rolled to his right and the spear struck the deck, the Reiklander quickly rose up with his sword and he drove his sword into the gut of the spearman who grunted in pain.

'_Ja?_ _Geh zum Teufel_' replied Otto with a hiss as he retracted his sword with blood and intestines gushing out from the spearman who fell upon his knees. All around Otto was the sound of battles as men fought and they died. More of their attackers began climbing the ropes and to Otto's horror, the man with the two swords was hacking and slashing his way through the crew of the Haendryk's Bounty. Unlike the rest of their attackers who fought with a savage brawler's fury, the man with the two swords fought was more methodical, clinical and controlled with his attacks.

One of the sailors by the name of Thomas was slashed in the throat by the man with two swords while another man named Pieter was slashed across the chest and another man named Marco was cut down before even Thomas hit the deck. The swordsman soon clashed swords with Captain Ludwig who now carried two cutlasses, the two men furiously fought swords to sword, and each one seemed to match the other in strength, skill and speed.

Not having time to watch the fight, Otto went back into the fray to help his comrades.

* * *

Quietly performing a series of stretches within her quarters, Xiangjuan heard the sudden frenzy activity from above and the muffled crack of something which sounded like an arquebus. Using her Chi-Sight, she saw several of the barbarians were dying above, she saw that they were fighting Nipponese pirates, among them she saw a man with two katanas and he radiated with unbalanced Yang. His yang was of an ever shifting color which dazzled her Chi-Sight, she saw at the corner of her eyes a great black bird and she realized the nature of the man, he was a follower of Tsien-Tsien, Lord of the Fifteen Devils.

Quickly grabbing her _Khakkhara_, she opened the door and began whispering a spell, the blue crystal rings at the top of her staff filled her with power and she began to swiftly condense the water in the air and freeze it into a protective barrier around her. Swiftly opening the door, she leapt out with her Chi-sight to guide and she thrust her staff forwards.

A blast of ice spewed out from the head and she surprised a pair of pirates who were battling a pair of white men, one of whom was armed with a sword while the other carried a pole arm of sorts. She began sweeping her staff in complex patterns as words of power escaped her lips and Chi began to gather towards her. More water within the very air condensed into a ball which swiftly froze and shattered into a hail of ice shards which impaled several of the Nipponese pirates but left the barbarians unharmed.

She then slammed her staff into the floor board; a wave of mystic cold began to flow from it as the Chi she had gathered empowered it. Soon many of the pirates began to slow as the magic quickly started taking affect on them. Without giving them time to fully realize what was going on, Xiangjuan launched herself into the fray.

The ice which had formed around her body protected her from their cheap weapons. She thrust her left palm towards one pirate and hissed a spell which caused the very water in the man's body to freeze, with a back-handed strike from her right fist, the pirate shattered into many pieces. Fighting with the style of the Thrashing Dragon, Xingjuan combined her magic with her martial arts to create a most deadly harmonious combination.

Feeling a sudden impact of heat against her ice armor, she looked to see the man with the two swords, azure flames danced around his swords with the right now pointed at Xingjuan and the left was pointed at the ship's Captain who was immobilized as hooks dug into his flesh, he screamed in agony as the daemonic chains constricted and dug further into him like a viper. The follower of Tsien-Tsien looked like a Nipponese Ronin, the man then spoke in a dark tongue which hurt the Wu Jen's ears to hear but she stood resolute at the sound if it.

'Can you not see that I am busy with an honorable duel?' the Ronin said mockingly in the Yomi tongue. Xingjuan could see the azure flames which danced within his eyes, this was no mere dabbler in the Yama Path, she could see more clearly now through her Chi-Sight that he was a minor champion of Tsien-Tsien.

'Begone foul servant of the Yama!' Xingjuan said as she moved into a defensive stance. She summoned a _Jian_ of ice for she was confident that the man would not just up and leave. The Ronin laughed darkly and he spoke

'You wish to challenge me? How amusing.' He said with a sneer as he moved into a defensive stance as well. 'I will send your soul to my Lord who will torment you in the Hell of the Raging Storms!' the Ronin promised and he swiftly burst into action.

The Ronin was extremely fast now that he was using magic to imbue himself, his swords blazed with Yang flames which reflected his own imbalance. Xingjuan parried one slash and barely managed to avoid the thrust of the other. She used her left hand and legs to strike at the Ronin as well, but he simply dodged or blocked it with his swords. Xingjuan had never fought such a skilled opponent in her life, while she was fairly confident so far that he was not truly superior for neither of them had managed to even truly harm each other, she was also sure that the Ronin was not inferior. In many ways, they were equals.

Falling back so that she could reclaim her _Khakkhara_, she dodged, blocked, parried and launched attacks of her while casting spells and counter spells to which the Ronin did likewise. Eventually making it back to her staff, she easily pulled it out of the ice which had stuck the staff to the deck and she began channeling more Chi from the Virtue of Water. The Ronin chuckled and the flames around him intensified

'You have my compliments Wu Jen' the Ronin said with a grin 'I did not expect to face such a worthy opponent but I have other businesses to attend to, so farewell' the fires which surrounded the Ronin went into his katanas and he charged towards Xingjuan. Harnessing the Chi within the rings of her staff, she swiftly erected a new armor of ice and she imbued the strength of her _jian_. The Ronin's swung his weapons with blinding speed, Xingjuan managed to block one with her staff but her jian shattered and the sword struck into her chest and the ice armor swiftly began to melt.

A sudden crack from an arquebus rang out and Ronin's jerked forwards. He looked down to see blood staining the front of his garments, quickly taking the initiative; Xingjuan jammed the remains of her ice sword into the back of the side of the Ronin's head. The Ronin died instantly and he fell to the deck with the flames around him dissipating.

A fair distance behind the Ronin was the Captain who bled heavily from several deep wounds as he held a smoking pistol in his left hand. The Barbarian hissed something spiteful in his foreign tongue before spitting on the Ronin and then pointing his sword at his remaining men. The Captain began bellowing out orders and soon the crew, as well as the pirates were all in stunned silence soon went back into the fray. With nod, Xiangjuan joined the barbarians in killing the pirates.

* * *

When the last of the pirates had either been killed or chased off the ship, the Cathayan woman began chanting a spell which caused the waters around the pirate ships to move against the direction at which they tried to flee. The crew of the Haendryk's Bounty quickly got onto the cannons and locked on to the pirates. In a single barrage, none of the ships remained, save for shattered pieces of wood and ruined bodies.

The men cheered their victory and soon they began cheering for both their Captain and the Cathayan woman. The Cathayan gave them a gracious bow before returning to her cabin, the Captain of whom was looking rather pale from the blood loss just gritted his teeth and ordered his men start clearing the deck. Their employer, Josef Fritz was found cowering in the cargo area while the Valet as well had been hiding inside a large ceramic vase; the men who had accompanied their employer had gone up to join their mates during the fighting.

Otto hauled a corpse off of the ship and he exhaled for it had finally been the last one. Of a crew of five dozen men, over fourteen were killed with many sporting serious injuries. The ship's barber-surgeon had already set up a triage in the mess hall as he tended to the more seriously wounded. He saw the Captain sitting down his back to the mast of the ship, the grizzled Nordlander was taking a swig of something from a metal flask before he looked up to Otto

'What is it herr Sturm?' the Captain said in an annoyed tone which seemed weaker than usual, the man had insisted that the other men go first to receive healing while he waited and drank.

'I just wanted to say, a fine shot there Captain' said Otto with a salute. The Captain snorted and he took another drink, it seemed that his flask was empty and he tied it to his belt.

'If there is one thing I learned about fighting' the Captain said as he slowly got up 'Never turn your back on a living opponent and never take the bloody time to gloat! Just kill the son of a bitch!'

'Wise words sir' Otto said, the Captain grunted and went off to the triage area. Guessing that he should go wash off the blood, Otto went off to grab a mop again.


End file.
